1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin optical disc drive that is referred to as a slim drive, and more particularly relates to an optical disc drive that has a mechanism for preventing damage to inner parts caused by an impact and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical disc drive for CD, DVD and the like, which is installed in a laptop personal computer and the like, its structure becomes slimmer, and a slim drive having a thickness of 9.5 mm has been mainly used instead of a currently used drive having a thickness of 12.7 mm. Such a thin optical disc drive has a narrow inner space, and therefore, a collision between inner parts caused by an impact is apt to occur. Thus, there is a fear that the damage to parts causes the deterioration in the reliability performance of the optical disc drive. In particular, in an optical head, which is a main part inside the optical disc drive, its support rigidity is a low in radial direction. Thus, when an impact force is applied even in non-operation, the optical head is moved in the radial direction, or the deformation of the component parts due to the impact force causes the optical head to be elastically deformed in the upward/downward direction. Hence, there is a fear that the optical head will be contacted with a component part and it causes the optical head and/or the component part to be damaged.
Also, the foregoing optical disc drive is required to have the structure that can endure an impact test predetermined by a personal computer (PC) maker.
In order to cope with the foregoing problems, there are a method for absorbing the impact force with a buffering structure which is disposed at a position where the optical head may be brought into contact with other parts when the optical head is moved in disc radial direction, a method for increasing the support rigidity so that, even if the impact force is applied, the optical head is not moved to be brought into contact with the other parts, or the like.
As a method which uses the impact buffering member between the contact portions, a patent document 1 discloses a structure such that an elastic member is mounted at a position where, when an optical head is moved to outer circumferential position on an disc, a tip of a rack gear mounted to an optical head support member is brought into contact, or the support member is brought into contact. Also, a patent document 2 discloses a structure such that first and second buffering members for buffering the collision with an optical head support member are mounted on an inner circumference and outer circumference of a guide member for guiding the optical head to be moved in the disc radial direction.
On the other hand, as a method for increasing the support rigidity in the disc radial direction of the optical head support member, a patent document 3 discloses a structure for stopping the movement of an optical head in such a way that a bearing serving as a running mechanism part provided in the support member is restrained by a stopper which is raised and lowered by a solenoid through a link mechanism.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid Open H-11-39809    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid Open 2000-285618    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid Open H-6-187756